Sinking
by Rosa Lui
Summary: AU. Uzumaki Naruto has spent his entire life trying to succeed. Uchiha Sasuke has sacrificed everything to fulfill his goals. They meet in the middle, and this could be what saves them, or what sinks them both forever. SasuNaru.
1. Mossu: To Sink

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. :3

**A/N:** My first real Naruto fic ever. Written for the 2009 Summer SasuNaru Fic Exchange on livejournal. Enjoy!!

* * *

**Sinking**

**Part One: Mossu (To Sink)**

* * *

The desk of Hatake Kakashi was not what one would call organized. In fact, despite his insistence that it was actually just a very complex filing system, even the owner of the desk could rarely find anything on it. Papers got lost, got spilled on, and occasionally got eaten by the small dog that often slept in one of the office chairs. Because of this, he tended to do his work elsewhere, such as at his home, or in his head.

It would have then come as a surprise to anyone who knew him to find him as he was now, seated behind that same desk and staring quite intently at two folders which had recently been placed on top of it.

In one was a rejection letter. Innocuous; an every-day occurrence. This was, after all, the largest and most prestigious police force in the city; hopeless young students applied to, and were rejected from, the Academy every day. In droves. It was nothing in the great scheme of things, except, perhaps, to the young hopefuls who got turned down. Under normal circumstances, this letter would never even have neared Kakashi's office.

The other folder had been delivered by hand, quite discretely. It was marked as a budget report, for the benefit of any prying eyes. Its actual contents were quite different.

The messenger of this latter file was still waiting, standing quite politely on the opposite side of the desk. It was he who eventually broke the tense silence with a delicate cough. "As you can see, this is a matter of some delicacy. My employer would like me to remind you of your time together some years ago, when you shared similar lines of work, and expresses his trust that you would not abandon an old comrade in a time of need."

Comrade. Well, not exactly, but then black-ops never had been big on specific rankings. "I'm afraid I don't know what he expects of me," Kakashi finally said with a somewhat theatric sigh. "Last I heard, he was still cozy in his job in the underbelly of the government, and supposedly quite capable of running his own operations."

"My employer," the messenger repeated with a certain slickness that made Kakashi want to throw something, "is turning his attentions inward, to eradicate any threats to internal security. He trusts that you, as the current head of undercover investigations for this police department, will not find it beyond your ability to lend your aid."

_The paranoid old man feels threatened, _Kakashi realized. _ He's using all his resources to protect himself, and wants me to solve his problem for him. Huh. _ Aloud, he said, "I can send you to talk to some of the agents who attempted this in the past. Two are quite close; the cemetery's only a block away. You'll have to find the third, I'm afraid, but the bay is a good place to start looking."

"My employer," said the messenger again, and Kakashi realized for the first time that he was_ enjoying_ this, "is privy to information that suggests the face of the opposition has changed to someone with personal prejudice against him."

Kakashi frowned. "Really."

"As he is busy with affairs of the country, my employer does not wish to expend valuable resources on matters of personal safety, especially for something so little as a _bouryokudan, _and so he has sent me to you. You understand, of course."

"Of course." _Leadership in the underworld is changing hands… the old man has been receiving threats, and he's scared. ….Huh. _

"Any candidates you propose for this operation," the messenger interrupted his thought flow, "are to be approved by myself beforehand, of course."

"No need," Kakashi found himself saying cheerfully. "I have the perfect person in mind." Opening up the first folder on his desk, he pulled out the last few sheets of paper and handed them over.

The messenger glanced at them. "He is… young," he said non-committally. "His coloring makes him look even younger. His record may make him convincing to them, but it also means he is unreliable for us. And judging from this photograph, his disposition is not suited to the task."

_Ah, yes. That's the one where he had one finger pulling on his eyelid and the other -_ "He'll be just what they need," Kakashi said instead. "He's good at turning people to see his point of view. In fact, that's the very skill I'm counting on."

It took another few minutes to convince the messenger, but Kakashi was barely attuned to the task, and by the time he left the office, his mind was whirring with the possibilities.

It was remarkable, really, how well these things could fall into place.

As Kakashi walked to his car, he found that he had the strangest urge to start whistling.

* * *

It took a minute of knocking before the door was yanked back to reveal a sleep-tousled young man, blue eyes wide, towel over one shoulder, toothbrush in hand.

Kakashi smiled inscrutably. "Yo."

"….I really, really didn't do anything this time."

"I'm wounded by your distrust. This is just a friendly visit, Naruto-kun."

The boy contemplated him grimly, holding the toothbrush between them like a weapon. "Either you're lying, and that's cruel, or you're telling the truth and that's creepy."

"I was in the neighborhood and couldn't resist the opportunity to drop in. I thought you might be up for some ramen." Here he lifted his right hand, from which dangled a plastic take-out bag.

Naruto's eyes lit up and Kakashi could almost see the cogs turning in his mind, weighing the benefit of free noodles against the disadvantage of having to let Kakashi into his apartment. The long-suffering sigh showed which side had won the battle. "C'mon, we'll eat in the kitchen."

Naruto's apartment had changed little over the years. It was still bright, tiny, and surprisingly well-kept, the way things often were when their owner had few earthly possessions. The walls stood much as they had been when Naruto first moved in. The boy had tackled them with posters, glue, and slightly more enthusiasm than skill. A solitary leafy plant stood by the window, curling merrily in the sunlight and appearing to be quite healthy. Things did that around Naruto – thrived – often against all odds and sometimes against their own will.

"Take a seat on the floor," Naruto instructed before plopping down himself. "I sort of sold my couch, so I usually just camp out for meals. The kitchen's kinda small."

It was roughly the size of a large cardboard box.

Kakashi hummed thoughtfully. "It's been a while since we spoke. How's school? Have they accepted your appeal application yet?"

"No. Doesn't matter, I'll get it," Naruto said confidently, and with that began shoveling noodles into his mouth, signaling an end to the conversation.

Kakashi ignored this. "How about that friend of yours, are you still in contact? You know the one – head of the family now, used to kill people with a creepy smile on his face?"

Naruto stared at him blankly.

"Oops. That's right, there's more than one of them, isn't there?"

"They're my friends," Naruto said defensively. "And they're good guys, who just had to go through a lot of _ shit. _ S'not their fault, and if the stupid NPA doesn't like who my friends are, they can stuff it."

"About that," Kakashi said carefully. "I've spoken to the appeal committee, Naruto." He tried not to feel bad about the look of wide-eyed hope that lit up the boy's face. "The outcome won't be in favor."

The grin on that face flickered for just a second, and Kakashi saw something like anger and frustration and years of _ hurt _ trying to force their way through.

Naruto said nothing for a moment, instead staring at his food as if it could show him exactly what he'd done wrong. Then his lips flattened into a thin line, and he nodded once, decisively. "Okay. That… yeah. Okay. I'll just have to try again, then."

"There could be other ways," Kakashi said, forcing his voice into something like nonchalance. "Though they would be considered somewhat non-orthodox."

Naruto looked at him carefully. "If some dumbass from administration thinks I'll give up my friends for –"

"That wasn't exactly what I meant. But before I tell you, I need to know how far you're willing to go to get into the academy."

Naruto's eyes were serious and unusually calculating. "Meaning what?"

"There's an… underground organization. Not a real yakuza, and no one you know. It goes by the name Oto. Started a few decades ago, and has kept itself well under the radar until now."

"So they're friendly?"

"Not exactly. It's been the general consensus that they simply prefer to operate far out from under our watch. Now, though, in the last couple weeks our information networks have gone haywire. All their major operations have ground to a complete halt, and they've started recruiting at a ridiculous rate."

"It sounds like they're starting over," Naruto mumbled, forehead creased as he tried to make sense of the information. "Cleaning out and building back up from scratch…."

"We know there's been a very sudden shift in power; there are rumors someone has killed the Otokage. But we can't know exactly, because we don't have anyone in with them. Everyone we've ever put undercover in Oto has been sent back."

"Sent?"

"Yes. Usually in a small box."

"You think they've hacked into your personnel files?"

"It's likely. What we need is someone who already has connections with the underworld. Someone who is not and never has been a cop – but might, for example, have an extensive juvie record."

Naruto was watching him with very wide eyes. "You're saying you want me to be a spy?"

"If you succeeded, it would give you enough credit to pass the appeal this time," Kakashi said quietly. "I would make sure of that."

"Yeah," Naruto retorted, "and when they send my remains back in a handbasket you can bury me with my acceptance letter."

"The question then," Kakashi interrupted calmly, "is not how much you want to join the police academy. It's how much you want to help people. What a real officer does, Naruto, is make sacrifices and do the dirty work so no one else has to. They do things they'd rather not because in the end, it is one small, tiny step towards a world where stupid brats like you are allowed to follow their dreams from the start, because they won't have grown up going through, as you say, a lot of _shit." _

There was a silence.

Kakashi gently put his chopsticks down and stood. "Well," he said with a sudden and disproportionate amount of cheer, "We have a week. You can let me know by then, or I'll stop by again. Until that time –"

"Wait." Naruto was standing, head down, one hand grasping Kakashi's jacket. "I don't… need any time. I'll do it."

Kakashi's eyes curved into happy crescents. "Yes, I thought you might."

* * *

The hardest part was not being able to tell anyone.

To anyone who knew about Uzumaki Naruto but had never met him, his sudden disappearance from civilized society and entrance into the world of crime was seen as unsurprising. It was an inevitability, they said; he'd always been a disaster waiting to happen.

Those who did know him were saddened and disappointed, as if he in his constant struggle to rise out of the mud had acted as a lifeline for them all. He'd been a ray of hope to those who didn't have the strength or the willpower to help themselves; if he hadn't won the battle, who could?

Those who knew him _ well _ kept their mouths shut and simply waited, because their trust went beyond this.

To Naruto, it felt like sinking. What he'd spent a lifetime trying to build only took several weeks to destroy, and the persona others had always assumed of him only took a few days to disappear into. Despite the act he knew it was, it still felt in many ways like failure.

In the end, it was easy. It always would have been easy, but then, these werebeen lines he'd never even been _ tempted _ to cross.

He crossed them now.

He called in favors from friends in high places – or low, depending on your perspective – and they gave him the start he needed. A couple of strolls in the right area, and jobs with the right people and drinks in the right bar, and it was like he'd never left.

In case anyone decided to look into his files and find his NPA application, he spread the word about his rejection and milked it for all it was worth. It wasn't hard to spend hours bemoaning his fate, and he found joy in doing it as loudly and annoyingly as possible.

Once word got out that he was a man with ambitions but few scruples, the offers came in from all sides. All he had to do was wait for the right one.

The 'right one' came a little over a month later, in the form of a beat-up Honda with tinted windows. It was waiting for him at the curb one night as he exited his apartment, and sped off as soon as he slid into the passenger's seat and closed the door. The locks clicked down as they reached the traffic light.

The driver was disheveled and hard-eyed, likely just a bottom-feeder in the general heirarchy. A lackey relegated to unimportant jobs like ferrying snot-nosed kids to meet their potential new employer.

The boss, Naruto was informed as they sped towards the dirtier part of the city, had noticed him sniffing around. Had also heard of his police record, and some of the things that _ should _have been on his record but weren't, including that time with the thing and the guy in the place. Maybe the Boss was interested; maybe he wanted to put a bullet in Naruto's head for being too forward and too obvious and too much of a brat. He'd find out.

Naruto doubted Bottom-Feeder had ever seen or spoken to the Boss in his life, or that he himself would even be meeting the Boss today. It was far more likely he'd be offered a trial run of sorts, by someone who was Not Quite A Bottom-Feeder But Almost.

They stopped outside of an abandoned apartment building. There were black cloths hanging across the windows, and the signs posted outside marked it for destruction the following week. Much of the neighborhood surrounding appeared to be silent and boarded up.

It was, Naruto thought somewhat morbidly, a good place to shoot someone.

They didn't get out of the car. Instead, two men left the building and got in the back seat behind Naruto. It was a good move, strategically; they could see him just fine, but if he wanted to see them he'd have to twist awkwardly in his seat.

Well, bah. Uzumaki Naruto was made of enough awesome to be able to twist in his seat and still look slick.

Or something.

The first man was obviously of slightly higher rank than the car-driver, dressed flashily in a striped suit and spiked hair, but not with any of what would be called class. His expression was indiscernible behind large designer sunglasses. It was probably supposed to be intimidating. To Naruto, who had grown up with his survival based on knowing how to spot who was dangerous and who wasn't, he looked like someone playing dress-up.

The man next to him was harder to see, leaning back slightly into the shadows. The black leather jacket and jeans gave little away; the converse sneakers made Naruto calculate the man's age down a few years. More likely to be carrying a firearm than the other man, he was probably here as something similar to a bodyguard.

Or an assassin, seeing as he was the one sitting behind Naruto.

It was the man in the striped suit who spoke.

"Uzumaki Naruto. You were in my bar last night. You've been in_ every one _of my bars for the past week. Something tells me you've been trying to get my attention."

_Not yours, but close enough. _ "I heard from a guy that you're good at getting people places."

"What guy?"

"He was a guy," Naruto said evasively. "Had an earring, maybe. I think he had hair. Your reputation isn't exactly kept under wraps, you know; these things get around."

"And you think we're what you want," Suit said slowly. "What makes you think_ we _want _you?"_

Naruto just grinned. "I dunno, gramps. You know my name, so I bet you've read my file. You tell me."

All Naruto had time to see was Suit give the briefest of signals before the man in the leather jacket _ moved _and Naruto was out of the car, back pressed up against a telephone pole with a gun in his face. Instinct told him to grab the knife in his sleeve and try to put up a fight. Common sense told him not to piss off the man with the gun.

Common sense had never been Naruto's strong point.

The man hadn't been expecting the move; Naruto had the knife flicked out and at his neck by the time Leather Jacket had brought the gun up to tap against Naruto's chin. The two froze, glaring into each other's eyes.

There was silence, until Leather Jacket said in a low and deadly voice, "That was a stupid move, dumbass."

"Yeah?" Naruto snapped, head buzzing oddly as anger began to surface. He realized, dimly, that arguing with a man who could blow his head off was not a good idea, but he didn't care. "Well last time I checked, a bit of haggling didn't warrant a frisking by the prissy bodyguard –"

"Are you suicidal? Because I can help you with that."

"- We both know he was gonna say yes anyway –"

"To a moron like you? You'd just be a liability."

"Hey, I_ know _these streets, jerkface – "

"That's right," the other man breathed, something like triumph in his voice, "a 'welcome home' is in order, isn't it?"

That was it. Naruto_ hated _this guy.

His retort was cut off by the slam of the car door. Striped Suit had gotten out and was walking toward them. He didn't look happy.

"This organization," he snapped, "has no room for people who do not offer_ respect. _Try that again and you won't make it home for dinner, let alone to that fancy academy. Now put down the damn knife and back the hell off of each other."

Naruto and the bodyguard glared for another second to demonstrate their mutual dislike before slowly disengaging.

"Now get back in the car," Striped Suit continued, "and I'll tell you your assignment. Screw this up and there are no second chances."

Moving to leave, the bodyguard in the leather jacket stopped and looked at him. Now that there was no gun blocking his view, Naruto was able to actually_ see_ his face for the first time by the light of the street lamp. He had to fight down a hysterical snort. The guy was… pretty. His bones were too fine, lashes too long, nose too slim to ever be taken seriously in this type of world. No wonder he carried a gun; he probably couldn't handle himself for shit.

Then the man socked him in the stomach. Naruto doubled over wheezing, eyes bulging as he fought for air. "Never," Leather Jacket said softly in his ear, "do something that stupid again. Next time I won't give you a warning. I won't send you home. I'll send you to the bottom of the bay tied up in a sack."

_Yeah, yeah. ….You goddamn bastard. _"Got it."

"Good."

Naruto managed to straighten in time to watch the bastard turn away. _ Jerk. Thank God I don't have to work with him. ….He's too pretty, anyway, _he added to himself as he walked back to the car. _ ….And his hair looks stupid. Like a duck's butt._

* * *

The job turned out to a breeze. They sent him to collect from a couple of idiot dealers and shopholders who had been withholding payments since the power switch, probably thinking that if they stayed under the radar they would be forgotten in the chaos.

Unfortunately for them, with out any operations underway, the underlings in Oto were now milking their debtors for all they were worth.

It was at his last stop that he ran into Leather Jacket again. The bodyguard was outside when Naruto emerged from the convenience store, leaning back against a motorcycle with arms crossed casually and a cigarette hanging out of one corner of his mouth.

Hah. Naruto had known he was an idiot.

"Those are bad for you," he said gleefully, and feeling vengeful he grabbed the cancer stick out of the other's mouth and crushed it in his hand.

Infuriatingly, Jacket ignored him, instead nodding his head minutely towards to shop behind them. "Any trouble?"

"No," Naruto groused. "And it's none of your business anyway. And if there_ was _trouble, I still wouldn't need _your _help."

The object of his righteous anger looked back impassively.

"….And smoking's dumb. ….And your hair looks like the rear end of a –"

"Don't believe that I care if you're as incompetent as you look," the jerk interrupted. "But Izakawa needs to know if you can get through a routine run without _insulting the wrong guy _and ending up on the wrong end of a switchblade."

"Yeah? Well, I can handle whatever you throw at me," Naruto said stubbornly. "In fact, _I'm_ not the one who needs to carry around a prissy gun because he can't – _ungh."_ For the second time in as many days, he doubled over in pain as a fist plowed into his stomach. _ Brain_, he thought fuzzily. _Need to start filtering mouth._

Leather Jacket plucked the cigarette out of Naruto's hand and ground it into the sidewalk with his heel. "Get on the bike."

_Littering jerk. I bet he doesn't even care about the environment. I bet he wants all the polar bears to die. _"I don't want to get on your stupid -"

"Get on, or forget about Izakawa's offer."

_….I bet he eats kittens, too._ Naruto got on the bike gingerly, and then nearly fell off again in shock as the jerk sat in front of him. "Wait, wait. This is all very – I am SO not holding onto your waist –"

"Then don't. Fall off."

With the air of one being forced to cuddle with a snarly porcupine, Naruto very gingerly latched his hands on either side of the man's jacket. "Just do me a favor and try not to run over anything cute and fluffy, okay? I'm sure it gives you sadistic pleasure, but restrain yourself from anything too evil while I have to watch."

They ripped away from the sidewalk in an a rush of air and the roar of the engine, hitting the main road in a matter of minutes. Naruto kept an eye out for any suspicious gravitation towards hapless squirrels or rabbits, and the man in front did his best to ignore the fact that he had a passenger.

Twenty minutes later they were pulling into a junkyard parking-lot, near the back door of a graffitied, tin roof building. Jacket nodded him toward the door and then settled back to wait as Naruto entered.

The meeting inside went swiftly; Naruto handed over the collected money, was given a nod that meant he had acceptably passed the trial run, and then was dismissed by Izakawa.

"Report next week," the man said, lounging back on his chair and opening a newspaper with a sharp snap. "Sasuke will take you home."

So. Leather Jacket's name was Sasuke.

Huh.

Naruto tried not to be disappointed that it wasn't Duckbutthead.

* * *

In the ensuing weeks, Naruto did his best to pump others for information, his naturally inquisitive nature making it seem unsuspicious; the problem was, no one knew anything. The upper echelon kept to themselves, never mingling; most people in Naruto's circle had never even seen them.

One thing that started happening with increasing regularity, however, was that he was paired up with Sasuke for assignments.

Sasuke was what Naruto would have called _peevish, _if he hadn't been so unemotional. He was a downright jerk when he wanted to be, but seemed to be… not opposed to animals. In fact, when coming to meet Sasuke at his apartment one day, Naruto had heard the mewling evidence that Sasuke lived with at least three cats. (Naruto had come running in, positive Sasuke was cooking them in a witch's cauldron on his living room table.) (He hadn't been, but that didn't stop Naruto from surreptitiously checking the closets for any suspiciously large pots, just in case.)

The strangest thing about Sasuke was that – loathe as Naruto was to admit it – he was very, very good at what he did. He was the kind of person who would have gotten straight A's in school and been nominated for class president… at least until he got kicked out for being such an asshole. It was confusing, therefore, why he was still a nameless grunt in the general scheme of things, when by all rights he should have risen through the ranks fairly quickly. One day, when they were lounging around a random bar with nothing else to do, Naruto decided to ask him. Politely. For the sake of his investigation.

"Hey, bastard. Why are you still such a flunky?"

Several men playing cards at a table nearby froze where they sat, eyeing each other nervously.

Sasuke, who didn't even look up from where he'd been nursing a drink, answered, "Why are you still such a reject?"

They both paid for the resulting fight with several bruises and nearly ten thousand yen.

But as no new jobs came in, the groups in the usual hangouts dwindled, and the two of them ended up spending time alone with each other on something equating stand-by duty, waiting for calls that never came.

It was on one of these days, stiflingly hot in a dark club filled with smoke and cheap curtains, that Sasuke got up, ground his cigarette out, and announced that hell if he was going to waste anymore time in this hellhole, they were going out.

It was a relief, even if Naruto still had to spend time with The Bastard, and they found the perfect way to relieve tension; go to the gym and beat the crap out of each other. Sasuke was the more skilled of the two; he had obviously spent a lot of his life studying karate, or in some secret school that trained in mad ninja skills. Naruto, however, was what most of his opponents called "an annoyingly persistent little shit," and just plain_ refused to stay down._ It helped him compensate for the difference in skill – kind of.

Either way, it had been a long time since anyone had seriously challenged Sasuke, and even longer since Naruto had ever been beaten so thoroughly.

As the weeks went by, the mutual frustration began to push both of them to to train again, Naruto with a fairly typical shout of "I AM SO GOING TO BEAT YOU JUST YOU WAIT" and Sasuke with feigned disinterest. Time took the rough edge off of their mutual dislike, and turned it into a (slightly) friendlier (almost) rivalry.

It was through this that Naruto began to realize his partner was, actually, a real human being (he'd had his doubts), and so one afternoon when they'd finished their usual session and were nursing their hurts (Naruto with an icepack, Sasuke by stoically ignoring them), Naruto slung an arm around Sasuke's shoulders and announced that they should hang out.

The only thing more shocking than his suggestion was the fact that Sasuke actually agreed.

The sparring sessions became routine, and routine turned to comfortable habit.

It was, unfortunately, the only thing that seemed to be progressing at all. Oto was dead in the water.

"About that," Naruto mumbled after one sparring session, stepping under one of the showerheads in the gym bathroom and stripping down. "What the hell is going on, anyway? I mean, I sign up, and then _ poof! _ All the exciting stuff is over and done with. It's getting kinda… boring, y'know?"

"Maybe they just haven't told you anything, because they don't want a bungler like you involved," Sasuke muttered from the opposite end of the room. There was an audible _thunk_ as his clothes hit the floor.

"Haha – NOT," Naruto growled. He turned the shower knob, closed his eyes and turned his face up into the hot spray. "I just… I mean, what the hell are they waiting for, you know?"

There was silence for a while, then, "The right deal, maybe. Something big enough and important enough to make a move."

"Makes no _sense_," Naruto mumbled as he turned the shower off. "Gangs _never_ work like this… the whole thing, it just feels so – ACK!" As he spoke he'd been turning, completely forgetting that Sasuke was on the other side of the room taking a shower as well.

Without any clothes on.

And he was – well. His physique was lither and less stocky than Naruto's own, but the years of martial arts training… they showed. And, well, it was obvious that he didn't get much sun; his skin was as pale as Naruto's was tan, and very, um. Smooth. His hair was slicked down by the water sluicing between his shoulder blades, just brushing his shoulders as the gel washed out along with the sweat.

Naruto hadn't realized he was staring until Sasuke felt his gaze on his back and turned. The water had matted his hair down around his eyes, and he reached one hand up to thread his fingers through his bangs and push them straight back.

Naruto swallowed.

Sasuke scowled. "Are you staring at me?"

Yes. "NO."

Sasuke's eyes left Naruto's to flick slowly up and down his torso, a smirk growing as his gaze came to rest somewhere near – "Well. I can see why you might be jealous."

If it hadn't been for the fact that they were both naked and, even without the preceding conversation, that was not a good state in which to start a fight, nothing would have saved Sasuke from a pummeling. As it was, Naruto flushed bright red, grabbed his clothes, and stalked out, spluttering incoherently and raging about bastards with God complexes who_ really needed to die. _

He would have left by himself if he could, but he'd come with Sasuke on his motorcycle. And now, after all of… THAT… he was going to have to ride home the same way, straddling the back of the bike and clutching onto Sasuke's jacket.

Well… well, shit.

Sasuke came out only a moment after himself, dressed again – thank God – with hair dripping around his face. Naruto noted with extreme amusement that the back was already starting to stick up again. The bird-butt affect was _natural. _ For some reason, that made him feel somewhat vindicated.

Sasuke took one look at Naruto's half-outraged, half-mulish expression and smirked. "You were the one sta-"

"I WASN'T! YOU – I – GAH! HATE!"

Sasuke just snorted. "There's a coffee place around the corner. Are you coming?"

Naruto stared at him uncomprehendingly, arms akimbo in his fury, before he realized that this was meant as an apology.

Huh.

"Sasuke," he began seriously, "are you… okay?"

Sasuke frowned at him.

"I mean… that's almost a nice thing to do. Taking me for coffee. Are you sure someone didn't do away with you and replace you with an updated, nicer model - OW." A lot of their arguments, Naruto thought rather dazedly, tended to end in rather the same way.

"Didn't your mother," he wheezed as he tottered down the road after Sasuke, "ever teach you it's not nice to hit people all the time?"

Sasuke just looked back at him, face expressionless – "My mother's dead, moron."

Naruto gawped at him, blue eyes widening. _ Shit. GAH! Why can I never – godammit! _"I – that sucks, I'm –"

"Sorry?" Sasuke asked blandly. "A lot of people are sorry. It doesn't make her any less dead." Then he continued walking, looking for all the world like nothing had just happened.

Naruto hurried after him, mind racing to find anything that could fix the situation. He had a feeling that any platitudes would only make it a thousand times worse. "So, ah – the rest of your family, do you guys –"

"They're dead too, stupid," Sasuke said uncaringly. There was even a tiny smirk on his face. Naruto stared at it, and could only think that he had never seen anything so fake, or so sad.

"We're here." Sasuke opened the door of the coffee house and went in, and they joined the end of the short line to the counter.

"So are mine," Naruto said spontaneously. "My parents, I mean. They died when I was born. At least, that's what the police records say." It was all Kakashi'd been able to tell him. Their folder had a big freaking 'classified' stamp on it. "So just… I kind of… I get it, a little."

Sasuke said nothing, neither then nor when he dropped Naruto off at his apartment. But he'd paid for Naruto's coffee, and Naruto felt that meant something.

* * *

The day everything changed dawned much like any other – stiflingly hot as the summer hit its peak, with not a peep from the organization they were both supposedly tied to.

Naruto had remembered Sasuke's words about Oto waiting for the right deal, and contacted one of his old friends, one with a fairly extensive and powerful… family. The idea took half an hour to plan out, immediately after which he called Kakashi.

"I talked to Gaara, and he's going to make Oto an offer – put some pressure on them or suggest a really profitable deal, I dunno, but if this works we think you should be able to come in and nab Oto redhanded."

There was a silence. "That's… not such an idiotic idea," Kakashi said finally. He sounded almost insultingly surprised.

"We're working on it," Naruto said. "Right now, the Otokage isn't biting. The entire organization is at a complete stand-still; but there's a chance, you know?"

Kakashi agreed, and even gave him a mild 'good work' before hanging up.

Feeling the need to get out and do something, Naruto found himself knocking on Sasuke's door half an hour later with a tub of ice-cream in one hand and a packet of instant ramen in the other. Sasuke stared at him in confusion, as he came in and slipped off his sandals.

"Is there something wrong with your apartment that you can't eat your food there?"

"Nah," Naruto said happily. "Just figured that today was a day for ice-cream, and no one should have to eat ice-cream alone, you know? It's a friends thing."

"Friends," Sasuke repeated dryly.

"Yeah. It's this crazy concept that has to do with liking people, and being liked back. And you hang out. And eat ice-cream. ….Look, I'm sure this idea is very new to you. Am I going too fast, or would you like me to draw you a diagram?"

"The last thing I need is social advice from _you _– and I hate sweets."

"That's not the point," Naruto said impatiently as he rooted in Sasuke's cabinets for bowls. "It's an activity. Like eating popcorn at the movies. Or hot dogs at a ballgame. You eat ice-cream on a hot day." And with that, he shoveled an appallingly large scoop of the stuff into a bowl and handed it to Sasuke.

Sasuke stared at it like it was moldy and wriggling.

Naruto, foregoing the idea of a dish entirely, dug a spoon right into the carton and stuck it in his mouth, before setting up a pot of water for his ramen.

"This apartment," Sasuke said stonily as he watched the blond menace putter about his kitchen, "is mine. My _private_ apartment. What the hell gives you the right to barge in here and cook yourself lunch?"

"What did I do, interrupt an important brooding session?" Naruto turned around and hoisted himself up into the counter, legs dangling. "And you're not eating."

"I already told you, I hate sweets."

"What did they do, forget to give you taste buds when they were building you at the android plant? I bet one of your _cats _would eat it." With a sudden and slightly evil glint in his eye, Naruto took another scoop of ice-cream and held it out on the spoon towards Sasuke. "Here, Sasuke-kitty-kitty."

"….I keep knives in this kitchen. Continue to do that, and I will use them."

Naruto just grinned wider. "Ittle-widdle-Sasuke-kitty… come get your ice-cre- ah-ah-ah!" He lifted the spoon away and ducked as Sasuke's fist plowed through the space his head had just occupied. When he sat up again, they were closer than before, faces barely a foot away. Gingerly, he raised the spoon again. It rested just in front of Sasuke's lips. "Come on. Just one bite, and I'll stop bothering you."

Staring him very hard in the eyes, Sasuke opened his mouth and closed it around the spoon, drawing back to swallow slowly. Naruto stared transfixed as his Adam's apple moved up and down, and a pale pink tongue darted out to swipe across his top lip. Feeling suddenly far too hot, Naruto lowered a slightly trembling hand to the ice-cream carton, took another spoonful, and raised it again. Sasuke stared back at him, obviously unamused. His breathing, though, was a little faster than before. Naruto's grin faded to an expression of more intensity as he nudged the spoon forward. Sasuke tried to move his head out of the way, but not quite fast enough – a tiny dollop of melted cream landed on his chin.

Something had to be done about that, really.

It wasn't good to have food on your chin.

Sasuke's skin tasted sweet, Naruto thought as he leaned forward and licked the drop off. When he pulled back, Sasuke was staring at him with huge eyes, the first unguarded expression Naruto had ever seen on his face.

Well. He couldn't exactly pass up a chance to_ really _fluster the bastard, then, could he?

Naruto tasted exactly two seconds' worth of Sasuke's lips – warm, chapped – before pain exploded in his cheek and he saw stars.

"My _God,"_ he groaned, clutching his head, "you are such a complete_ asshole." _Peering through one eye, he saw Sasuke backed away a couple of feet, staring at him with an indecipherable expression on his face. "Oh please, you don't gotta act like it's the end of the world – "

"I can't –" Sasuke started, before stopping abruptly. "I can't do that, it's too –" He stopped again, but mouthed the last word instead. It looked like he said 'real.'

"Look," Naruto mumbled, looking away as his slight euphoria began to fade, "it's no big deal. But…." He gesticulated randomly with his arms, ignoring the fact that the ice-cream had melted almost entirely off of his spoon. "I mean, look at where we _are. _Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow, you know? Everything's as confusing as shit, but if we don't follow our gut and do something random now and then…." He shrugged.

"….That's why you did that? To do something _random?" _ Sasuke snapped.

"No, you jerk! I did it because I felt like it – I mean, when was the last time you really cut loose and did what you wanted? That had nothing to do with your 'duty,' or whatev- mmf."

Sasuke, it seemed, had found another way to shut him up than with his fists.

The kiss was tentative – not particularly good or full of feeling, as if the parties involved weren't exactly sure what they were doing this for.

Sasuke pulled back with a faint look of disgust. "You taste like sugar."

"And you taste like cigarettes. It's really gross, so shut up." With that, Naruto leaned forward on the counter and yanked Sasuke to him again.

The kiss was better this time, both parties more confident. Lips brushed once, skin already too hot from the noon temperatures seeming to warm even more where it touched. Naruto tilted his head to the side as his eyes drifted closed, pressing harder, tongue tip running along the seam of Sasuke's mouth. There was a moment of tension, and then Sasuke seemed to relax, bracing his hands on the counter on either side of Naruto and leaning forward. Hot, shaky breaths mingled and eyelashes tickled cheeks until Sasuke brought one hand around the back of Naruto's head and _pushed. _

Lips pressed together_ hard_ as mouths opened and Naruto licked along the inside of Sasuke's mouth. He reached out to grab two of Sasuke's belt loops and yanked him forward until they were flush against each other from hip to chest. He tugged the other boy's shirt up and ran a palm up his back, blunt nails digging into his side. Sasuke let out a tiny sound of approval and tilted his own head, bringing teeth down on Naruto's bottom lip before flicking his tongue across it.

It didn't feel like enough. Naruto bit back in retaliation and growled as Sasuke twisted away, only to trail the flat of a hot tongue down, nipping along Naruto's jaw before fastening onto the juncture of his neck and shoulder. Naruto eyes flew open and he tilted his head away, breaths coming slightly harder as Sasuke tugged his collar aside to gain more access.

A slight shift in their positions and hips ground together, making sparks explode in Naruto's mind – good ones, this time. And they really, really needed to do that again. He extracted his hand from Sasuke's shirt to entwine it in one of his jean belt loops again, as the other skimmed below his jeans and _tugged._ Hips aligned again, on purpose this time as Naruto arched upward.

Sasuke abandoned Naruto's neck and brought their mouths together again, hotter this time, more passionate. One hand cradled the back of Naruto's head as the other slid behind his hips, lifting the blond off the counter with a slight grunt. "Wh't th' hell – " He muttered, "do you think –" bite, lick, "you're doing?"

"Bed," Sasuke muttered into his mouth. "The other room."

Naruto broke the kiss off abruptly and surged back, eyes wide. "Wha-" His voice came out as a bit of a squeak. "Isn't that a little – fast??!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, spun them around, and backed Naruto up against the refrigerator, one leg still held curled around Sasuke's hip. "Weren't _you_ the one," he murmured against Naruto's cheek, "who was going on about doing what you want, when you want to?"

"Yeah, but –" he cut himself off with a groan as Sasuke slid a hand down the back of his jeans and ground into him again. "Never mind. Bed's good. Right here's fine, too. We can – the ramen's on fire."

Sasuke brought his head up from where he'd been nibbling on Naruto's collar bone, looking rarely and almost adorably confused. "What?"

"THE RAMEN'S ON FIRE."

It took several seconds of squawking at the flaming pot before Sasuke shoved him impatiently out of the way, grabbed the spray hose from the sink and doused it.

They were left coughing slightly in the black smoke and staring at the charred, soggy remains of the noodles on the stove.

It was a bit of a turn-off, really.

"Naruto," Sasuke said stonily.

"Eh?"

"If my apartment ever burns down because of your goddamn noodles, they will_ never find your body."_

"I didn't – BWAH!" Suddenly sopping wet and blinking water out of his eyes, Naruto stared at Sasuke, mouth gaping.

The bastard, with his completely no-nonsense, deadpan bastard face, had sprayed him with the hose.

Well.

He should be mad, really. But, he realized as he looked at Sasuke's own slightly wet, slightly see-through t-shirt, this had potential.


	2. Uku: To Float

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. :3

**A/N:** Thanks for the lovely reviews so far! I'd love if you please drop me a line and tell me what you think? Whether it be one word, or one page? ^^' I know people are reading, but I'd adore some more feedback. :3

* * *

**Sinking**

**Part Two: Uku (To Float)**

* * *

As the month wore on, the frequency of their meetings increased, until the fixtures in Sasuke's apartment became nearly as familiar to Naruto as his own. As did the bed, unsurprisingly. And the shower.

In this particular instance, they hadn't even gotten that far. It had been raining as they ran in from outside, and something in the roaring of the downpour and the wild smell of the storm in the air had made the two of them giddier than normal. Maybe it was the way the water plastered Sasuke's hair down over his eyes, and settled on Naruto's like a golden mist. Maybe it was the wetness of Sasuke's eyelashes, or the trickles of water that ran down Naruto's tanned neck and over his collar bone.

Whatever the cause, they were barely in the door before hands were threading through damp hair and chapped lips were lapping at droplets of water on skin. The struggle out of wet jackets and shirts was done with little care and the soaked garments were left in a sodden heap in the foyer. They collapsed on each other not far from there; shivering and on a very uncomfortable hard wood floor, the whole business hadn't taken long.

They dozed afterwards – or Naruto did, at least – dazed and lulled by the drum of the raindrops on the roof. Waking up was like being pulled out of a warm bath; Naruto felt cold, and worn out, but oddly content and unwilling to move. Instead, he gently unfolded himself from where he clung to Sasuke, and dragged a blanket off of the nearby couch to cover them both.

"….Should shower, moron," Sasuke muttered into the floor.

Naruto ignored him and shifted the blanket around them to provide more warmth. "C'n I ask you something?" He said finally, keeping his gaze fixed on the ceiling above.

"No."

"Why did you join Oto?"

Sasuke was silent. He had an odd look on his face – one that made Naruto uncertain about pushing him, because it was bitter and angry and nostalgic and cold all at once. It also made him wonder if he was imagining things, because a face so unexpressive should never be able to show so many emotions at once.

"There was something I had to do," Sasuke said finally. "And this was the only way I could do it."

Naruto snorted. "That's dumb. There're always other ways."

"I'd been extended… an offer. And everyone else was useless."

"Everyone who?"

"It doesn't matter."

Naruto hoisted himself up on an elbow so he could lean over Sasuke's face better. "I don't get it. You're not a druggie and you're not piss-poor and you've got less ambition than a… a platypus, so why in hell -"

"What about you?" Sasuke challenged instead of answering.

Naruto pouted at him but went along, realizing he was probably never going to get more of an answer out of the other boy. "I guess… I guess someone offered," he said finally, slumping back onto the ground again. "And… everyone else was useless."

Something like a smirk flitted across Sasuke's face. "You're worse than a hypocrite, then. It's blatantly obvious that you don't belong here."

Naruto forgot to breathe for a second. "Don't be stupid," he said shakily.

"Me, stupid?" Sasuke sneered, eyes still fixed on the ceiling. "Anyone with eyes can see that you hate every minute of it."

"I dunno," Naruto said with an attempt at a grin. "Growing up, everyone always seemed to think I was this… fiend from hell, or whatever. Guess I finally started believing them." Which was a lie, he reminded himself. It_ was._

"You, care what other people think of you?" Sasuke said, voice laced with contempt. It wasn't meant as a question. "I've_ seen _people that belong in hell. You aren't…." He trailed off abruptly, as if wary of saying anything that could be interpreted as 'nice.'

"Where are you from, anyway?" Naruto asked, not caring how blatant his attempt to change the topic was. "I mean, you mentioned hell, which would suit you about right, but besides that…."

"Tokyo," Sasuke said shortly. "What about you?"

"….The streets," Naruto said easily. Sasuke's head turned towards him for the first time, and Naruto avoided his eyes, fiddling with one of the toggles on his pants. "No place in particular. I moved around a lot."

"By yourself?"

"I guess. I mean, someone must have taken care of me when I was younger, you know? I just don't remember it."

It hadn't been easy, being a naturally scrawny kid and trying to fend for himself while living in cardboard boxes. He'd gotten streetwise real fast, and grown up with the kind of attitude that made authority figures gnash their teeth but also kept him alive. It'd given him the reputation of a little hellion by the time he was a tween, and that mixed with the fact that he'd never been to school made him a figure for either pity or contempt in most people's eyes. And usually those people dealt with it by pretending he didn't exist. Not everyone had been like that, though.

"This one guy – he was a teacher, and he felt bad for me and put me in one of his classes for free." Naruto had failed miserably, but that hadn't been the point. "He gave me a chance, I guess, where nobody else ever had. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to put me in the right direction." By that time, everyone had known exactly who he was and where he came from and how much trouble he usually brought with him, but it hadn't mattered, because now Naruto had a goal – get to the top and change the way things were run. "I kinda hope he doesn't know where I am now, you know?"

Sasuke turned to look back at the ceiling, smirk in place again. "Half-naked on the floor with another guy?"

Naruto punched him easily in the shoulder. "It's just," he said slowly, trying to find the right words, "being it this place… like, I gotta do what I gotta do, and all. But it kind of feels like…"

"….Sinking," Sasuke murmured. "Yeah."

* * *

Sometimes Naruto caught himself wondering what it would be like if he just packed up the car, took Sasuke, and they_ drove, _drove until the whole mess was far behind them and nothing was complicated anymore.

Like loyalties.

But he couldn't do that, and Sasuke wouldn't let him do it, anyway.

It was this that brought him to a payphone one afternoon, preparing to call Kakashi days before his next scheduled check-in.

The man picked up with a disinterested, "Hmm?"

"Kakashi," Naruto said brightly, forcing as much untroubled cheer into his voice as he possibly could, "Hi. Um, it's me."

"What's wrong?" Kakashi said instantly, voice much sharper now. "Have you been compromised?"

"NO! No, that's not why I… ugh. Okay. I'm gonna say this, and you're gonna listen and shut up and agree, because I'm _not repeating it, _you hear?"

A silence. "….Would you like me to shut up before agreeing, or after?"

"This is hard enough on my pride already," Naruto growled into the phone. "My manhood – and I am the epitome of manhood! – is already struggling, so just_ listen."_

Another silence, then, "Your manhood is struggling? They sell pills for that kind of thi-"

"There',okay?"

"A guy?" Kakashi's voice held an odd note. Glee, maybe. "Naruto-kun needs help with a _guy –"_

"Not like_ that –"_

"-And came to me for advice because his manhood is strugg-"

"SHUT UP," Naruto roared, barely resisting the urge to throw the phone through the Plexiglas window. "He's… my friend, okay? I want to get him _out. _Of this. He doesn't belong here, and he's a good guy, and I'm not leaving him to get chucked in jail with the rest of –"

"Would he deserve it?" Kakashi interrupted quietly.

Naruto pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at in confusion for a moment as if Kakashi had started speaking in Ugluk. "Huh?"

"Being thrown in a jail cell. Has he done anything to deserve it? Because it he hasn't, he doesn't need my help. And if he has, he's not worthy of it."

Naruto gawped speechlessly. "W- I- bu- he's a good guy," he repeated, as if Kakashi might understand better if he said it again. "And he's going to get trapped in the backlash when Oto falls."

"Why is he there, then?" Kakashi said mildly. "Why did he join, if he's such a good guy? Has he even told you?"

Naruto thought back to his conversation with Sasuke the day before, brow furrowing as he tried to remember exactly what the other boy had said. "Sure he has! He said… he said he was here because there was something he had to do, and everyone else was being a stupidhead," he finished triumphantly.

"Something he had to do," Kakashi said dryly. "That makes it all perfectly clear. This 'thing he had to do,' Naruto – did he need a job to pay the bills for his starving family, and get medicine for his ailing grandmother? Or did he join so he could hide from the law? Or kill someone? Or get a foot in the drug trade?"

"Nothing like _that,_ obviously! But in specific I guess he… just…." Naruto trailed off. "I don't exactly… know," he ended in a subdued voice. "I don't know." Oh, God. He_ didn't know. _ He didn't know who Sasuke was or why he was there, or… anything, really. The day before it had felt so clear-cut, like everything had clicked perfectly. They'd understood each other. But now….

"Until you know that," Kakashi said finally, "don't come crying to me. Call me if there's any new developments on the case." Then he hung up.

* * *

Naruto moped for exactly one day. As it wasn't in his nature to retreat into himself and avoid people – that was Emo-suke's territory – he spent the time pouting and kicking inanimate objects.

It didn't take a long time for this to start grating on Sasuke's nerves; the third time Naruto let out a long-suffering, woebegone sigh, he kicked him off his couch – literally – and told him if he was going to sit around languishing without even explaining why, he could get out of his apartment.

Naruto stormed off, slamming the door behind him and shouting about how it was all Sasuke's fault anyway.

He came back the next day, aura of gloom evaporated and determination doubled. He began to gently probe Sasuke with questions, mostly on his goals, his loyalty to Oto, and his plans after all this was over. On his goals, Sasuke remained unsurprisingly mum, but for the rest, his grudging answers only confirmed what Naruto had already thought. Sasuke was using Oto as a tool, no more. He didn't follow their ideals, or seemingly care what happened to them at all.

"So if, say, something happened to them all," Naruto concluded with a thoughtful frown, "you wouldn't care?"

Sasuke glanced up at him from where he'd been scowling over his laptop. "Only if it interfered with –"

"- Your goals, blablabla, I get it," Naruto said dismissively. "But if you could find someone_ else _to help you with whatever it is –"

"Like who?" Sasuke asked quietly, directing his gaze back at the screen.

"….I know people, okay?" Naruto squirmed uncomfortably. "A lot of people. From all over. You could… join somewhere else, they'd help you, I swear they would…."

"Why would they do that?"

"Because I'll tell them to!" Naruto said exasperatedly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. _"I'll _help you to get – wherever you need to get!"

This time when Sasuke raised his eyes, his look was piercing. Black eyes narrowed, lips pressed tightly together as if he was thinking very hard. Or figuring something out. Naruto was acutely aware of the sudden elevation of his own heartbeat, and he painfully resisted the urge to swallow. _Keep it cool keep it cool… not even the bastard's that smart… there's no way –_

"Why is it so important to you that I be somewhere else?" Sasuke asked quietly, voice holding a quiet threat. _"Anywhere_ else, it seems, but here?"

"I – look, we both know things have been crazy here for the last few months – God knows what they're planning or if the whole thing is gonna blow up in their faces –"

"And were you planning on helping with that? It blowing up in their faces?"

"I – no." Naruto's voice cracked on the word.

"You talk less when you're nervous, Naruto."

They stared at each other across the kitchen, silence stifling the room. Naruto could feel himself sweating, and could feel the pressure of his knives inside his sleeve. He hated himself for even thinking of it. "You can trust me, Sasuke," he finally whispered.

Sasuke flinched and broke eye contact. "Sometimes you can't trust the people you want to. Sometimes they really don't have your best interests in mind."

"Yeah, well I'm not 'people'," Naruto said hotly, a smidgeon of confidence creeping back in. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I never break my word. You can _trust _me. Wherever you're trying to go, I'll help you get there."

"I'm… sure you will," Sasuke said neutrally.

Naruto stared at him. "I… uhm. Yeah."` Sasuke'd sounded almost like he had a lump in his throat, but that was stupid. Sasuke didn't get_ emotional._

_

* * *

_

It was three days later, in the middle of the night, that Gaara called him. Earlier that day, Oto had taken the deal; the entire thing was set, and there was going to be a huge meet going down two nights from then. Illegal firearms; enough to put everyone involved away for a very long time.

Naruto, having slipped out of bed to take the call, tiptoed back into the bedroom to make sure Sasuke was still asleep. With the blinds drawn, the room was thrown into almost complete darkness; but even if he couldn't see Sasuke's eyes, the steady sound of deep, slow breathing was enough to confirm he was still deeply in la-la land.

Then Naruto called Kakashi. "They've taken the bait," he whispered, hand cupped around the phone to keep the sound down. "Two nights from now, at the warehouses they own by the docks. Gaara confirmed the Otokage is gonna be there, as a gesture of good will. All he wants in return is that his men… you know. I mean, he's sending people in to make the deal, 'cause it's gotta look real, you know?"

"The police force will be prepared to practice selective blindness," Kakashi promised. "We're good at that."

"You gonna be there?" Naruto asked quietly.

"Yes, but you won't be."

_"What?!"_

"Not just because of the possible danger, but because of who is coming with me. There are… others behind this operation, Naruto, who have personal reasons for destroying Oto. If I know them at all, they'll want to be there for this; they'll see it as a personal victory."

"Wait, so… it's gonna be you and a bunch of bigwigs?"

"One bigwig, unless I'm mistaken. And I'd rather you stayed far off his radar for now. Take your boytoy, get in your car, pretend to be going to the swim meet with everyone else, and go to your apartment instead. I'll meet you there once everything is done."

It took only a few minutes' more conversation before Naruto was creeping quietly back into bed. Sliding under the covers, he froze in surprise as Sasuke rolled over sleepily to curve against his side.

Sasuke.

Cuddling.

What?

But the dozing boy said nothing, only tightened his arms around Naruto's neck as if he never wanted him to leave again.

* * *

As the morning of the deal dawned, Sasuke and Naruto received their orders. It seemed the Otokage wasn't just going to the exchange with a select few men; he wanted everyone. _Everyone. _

"It's going to be chaos," Naruto mumbled. The two were almost ready to leave; he sat on the couch, wrestling with his shoelaces. "Oto's first interaction under its new leader, and he wants – what? To impress with numbers?"

Sasuke shrugged minutely.

"What, is he insecure? It's like bringing a – a – a herd of moose to a pony show! Everyone's gonna think he's overcompensating! With this many people, if anyone does something stupid, it won't turn into a brawl, it'll turn into a _war…_ no one will be able to find anyone… anyone can go off and do anything and they'll be completely lost in the crowd…."

Sasuke still said nothing, merely checked his gun, shrugged on his jacket, and went to the door.

Naruto tied his shoes as slowly as possible. He was stalling, and it was stupid, but his nerves had been increasing steadily over the past hour as all the ways this could go wrong paraded themselves around his brain. "We'll take my car," he said abruptly, rising to his feet and brushing past Sasuke into the hallway.

Naruto's car, which before now he'd never had near enough money to buy, was an obscenely bright orange, with three jagged black lines painted on the two front doors. Naruto called it his baby. Sasuke called it an offensive atrocity.

Sasuke went around to the passenger's side and waited, before realizing after a moment that Naruto wasn't getting in. The blond was leaning stiffly against the car, hands jammed in his pockets, eyes focused on his sneakers.

_This is it,_ was all Naruto could think. _This is it, this is it…. _ "I'm not going," he said carefully, lifting his eyes to stare directly into Sasuke's. "And you're not either."

"Excuse me?" Sasuke asked stonily.

"Things are about to blow, and… you're gonna have to trust me." All the things he couldn't say – the explanations, the reassurances – he tried to force into his eyes, to make clear enough for Sasuke to understand. "I just have a bad feeling about this, okay? And they're never even going to notice that we're not here. So please, let's just… get in the car, and go."

Sasuke's eyes flickered away from his, coming to rest on some indeterminate point on the car. "Go where?"

"My apartment, first. I've got… stuff, I need to deal with. And then – wherever you need to go, Sasuke." Naruto fidgeted. "Whatever you need to do."

"You're not the type to throw your life away," Sasuke said blandly, still avoiding his eyes.

"And I'm _not,_" Naruto retorted, voice hard. "That'd be dumb. But you've got this… thing, whatever it is, that you need to do, and we're gonna do it together."

Sasuke stared at him for a second before turning away. "No."

Naruto reached out, grabbed him by the collar of his jacket, and slammed him into the car. It would have been easy for Sasuke to break his hold, but he didn't. "Please," Naruto murmured. He surged forward as if to kiss Sasuke on the lips. "We'll get in the car," he murmured against the other's mouth, "and we'll _go, _just go…." He pulled back to look at Sasuke's expression.

He looked… frozen. His breathing was shallow, body held stiffly. "Okay," he said finally.

Naruto stared at him in shock. "Really?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said quietly. "Really. But you have to give me time, Naruto. There's something I need to get first, and I've got it hidden somewhere else."

"So we'll go get it –"

"No. You're right; if we're going to do this, we need to do it fast. I'll take my bike and get it; you go back to your apartment and pack. I'll meet you there in two hours, okay? It'll all be over by then."

Naruto nodded, stepping back. "Okay, fine. But I'm_ counting _on you, bastard, don't take too lo- mmph."

The kiss was hard; under normal circumstances, Naruto would almost have called it violent, but instead it felt desperate. Teeth hit each other hard and made his jaw hurt; someone's canine scraped an upper lip. It felt hotter than normal; Sasuke was breathing hard, panting harshly into Naruto's open mouth as heads tilted and tongues slid together. Sasuke's hands were gripping blond hair; one of Naruto's was shoved up under his jacket.

When they separated, Sasuke surged forward to give a parting lick across the opening of Naruto's lips. Then he turned and walked away, one hand raised behind him in farewell.

It wasn't until Naruto was in his car and driving away that he remembered Sasuke had been in this organization for years, lying like a rug in order to pretend loyalty, and had never been suspected once.

And it wasn't until he was nearly at his apartment that he realized Sasuke's parting words, 'It'll all be over by then,' felt very, very wrong. And that he knew exactly where Sasuke was going to be.


	3. Tobu: To Soar

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. :3

**A/N:** And so we come to the end. ;) Hope you enjoyed it! And I would love you forever if you left a review. 8D

* * *

**Sinking**

**Part 3: Tobu (To Soar)**

* * *

The dock was swarming. The meet had started, and the game of intimidation and blustering was well under way.

Naruto couldn't see Sasuke anywhere. It didn't matter; he was here, somewhere.

He drove by once, then pulled sharply around and parked down the nearest side street, leaping out and tearing down the road. There would be lookouts, he knew, but with any luck no one would care about him showing up a little late.

There were so many _people,_ everywhere – it was the security nightmare Naruto had known it would be, but for a different reason. Sasuke was hidden in here, somewhere. Naruto didn't know whether he had lied about his lack of loyalty to Oto, but he was fairly sure Sasuke had lied about having something hidden that he 'needed to go get,' and absolutely positive he'd lied about meeting Naruto in his apartment.

He was starting to suspect that Sasuke lied about a lot of things.

Shoving his way through the crowd, he made his way to an area of thick scrub and trees by the road and crouched down. It was away from the street lamps; the combined darkness and foliage would keep him from being noticed, both from the road and by the docks.

Time passed – fifteen minutes, twenty. It was then that he noticed the cars. They came down the road silently, headlights off. Their sirens were off.

The cops were here.

And he had no idea where Sasuke was.

_Asshole,_ he thought furiously._ Bastard asshole – bastard – should let them find him, he deserves it – but if they do I won't be able to get to him first, and I_ really _want to_ KICK HIS ASS!

The cops burst from the cars all at once, and the docks went up in a cacophony of sound. Shouts, first confused, then furious – then gunshots. Naruto abandoned his plan to wait and turned on his heel, racing for the middle of the melee – and was brought up short by a pair of strong arms wrapping themselves around his shoulders and yanking him back. After a second of furious twisting didn't get him loose, Naruto turned his head to look up at his captor.

Kakashi looked nothing like his usual lazy self. His grip was uncompromising, and his eyebrows were flattened over unusually hard eyes.

He looked furious.

"What part," the older man said in a tightly controlled voice, "of 'I don't want you there' do you not understand?"

"Sasuke's in there," Naruto explained hurriedly. "The – guy, I was telling you about, he lied to me and he came here anyway –"

"Are you sure?" Kakashi said sharply.

"I haven't seen him, but I'm positive," Naruto said firmly.

"Stay here," Kakashi ordered. "Sit in the car and stay out of the way. If your friend has any common sense at all, he won't be in the middle of this. I'll be back for you. This should be over soon."

He was right about the last part. Many of the people were giving up without a fight; as most of them were new, only a few had any deep-rooted loyalty to Oto, and being on the young side probably lacked too many previous offenses, meaning they had less reason to fear going to jail.

Naruto wasn't sure how much time passed as he sat there on the hood of Kakashi's car. The night air was cold and there was a sharp breeze, but he barely noticed, eyes unfocused and staring down at the ground. Questions in countless numbers passed through his mind, but, of course, to answer any of them he needed Sasuke.

After perhaps half an hour, he noticed transport vans pulling up to carry away those that were not leaving in ambulances. It was at this moment – the definitive sign, he supposed, that things had been taken care of and victory was won – that he heard the quiet _click _of a car door opening.

Squinting down the road, he could just see, at the end of the parked row of patrol cars, a door open and a stooping man get out.

It was probably just another cop, but Naruto's instincts were screaming at him, and he hadn't survived this long without learning to trust them. He ducked down quietly, circled around the front end of the car, and inched closer as softly as he could. The man was old, he realized with surprise as he drew near. He'd always sort of assumed that old cops retired, or perhaps were gently set afloat on the sea by their younger co-workers when their usefulness was over.

This cop – if he was a cop – fit that bill; he had bandages wrapped around his head to cover one eye, and his right sleeve hung empty. Old injuries, Naruto was sure, but what the hell was he doing here?

_'Bigwigs', _he remembered Kakashi saying, but this man didn't look all that big or wiggy -

He_ felt, _more than heard or saw, a shadow in the shape of someone achingly familiar detach itself from the roadside trees. The person walked with calculated calmness to the middle of the road, coming to a stop not five feet away from the old cop.

The old man took one look at the silhouette standing before him and took a stumbling, panicked step back. "You! You're _dead -" _His left arm stretched out, pointing accusingly at the figure.

"Wrong." And with that one word, Sasuke raised the gun in his hand and shot the man in the chest.

* * *

Naruto ran blindly, heading automatically for the darkest and quietest corner of the dock, hand clamped bruisingly around Sasuke's wrist as he dragged the boy behind him. He couldn't see, couldn't think – the pounding of his own heart was deafening in his ears, drowning out the rising wave of disbelief and anger that threatened to sweep him over.

Ahead, his vision cleared to show him an empty warehouse, windows broken and door hanging half-open of rusty hinges. He slammed the door aside as he ran in and shoved Sasuke into the middle of the room.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Not the most articulate line of questioning, but at the moment he didn't care. "What the HELL – do you know who that was? He was one of the bigwigs – we were FINE and then you had to go and SHOOT someone, what the HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!"

"He killed my parents," Sasuke said tonelessly.

Naruto's jaw worked noiselessly. "H- w- bwah?!"

"Danzo," Sasuke continued calmly. His eyes looked blank. "He killed my entire family. And now I've killed him."

It almost sounded rational. Hah. Hahaha.

"But – he – your parents were murdered, Sasuke?" Naruto could feel his brain struggling to catch up with this sudden new influx of information. They had never talked about it, he realized. Not really. He had thought about it, but he had never_ asked. _

"You can stop playing now." There was something like a smile spreading across Sasuke's face. Not the arrogant smirk that usually sat there – it was different. Crueler, maybe. It looked completely wrong. "I know you know him. I've known you were undercover from the very start."

"Know I – bu-"

"It's _painfully _obvious, you idiot," Sasuke said scornfully, eyes narrowed in some awful kind of triumph. "You don't belong _here, _in this kind of world – you look like a fucking puppy in a pack of jackals. Hell knows what he's got on you to make you do his bidding, because a person like _you_ would never work for a person like _him _out of your own free will –"

"I don't KNOW him," Naruto shouted angrily. Sasuke looked at him with cold skepticism. "But if you KNEW I was a rat, why the hell didn't you –"

_"It was my plan all along, you complete and utter moron," _Sasuke snapped. "I joined Oto to find him, and I did. I know how he worked – he had the biggest network of undercover agents in the country, he relies on_ information,_ not overt power. I threatened him enough to get him to send in _you."_

"Send… me?" Naruto repeated blankly.

"Don't you_ get it_? I_ used you to get to him."_

"But… Sasuke," Naruto said weakly, "you couldn't… control the movements of the whole gang, you couldn't_ do _that unless you were… the…."

"The Otokage? You never did find out who that was, did you?"

Naruto felt like he'd been punched in the gut. "….You?"

"Of course. I killed the last one, after all."

"You…_ killed –"_

"I don't know if Danzo told you who I was," Sasuke continued, almost to himself. "It's obvious that you didn't tell _him_ anything. You couldn't lie about your emotions if you tried."

"I… thought –"

"What?" Sasuke said quietly. "That you were in love with me? That I was in love with _you?"_

Naruto felt like something was breaking. His world, his idea of his world, was falling down like shattered glass, and all he could see was the uncaring smirk of the one who had done the smashing. Except –

"I don't believe you," he whispered. His eyes were wet. He didn't care. "I_ don't believe you, _because when I left in the car _you almost came with me. _I saw your face –_ you wanted it, _you lying bastard, you_ wanted_ to come with me –"

"You're delu-"

Naruto punched him in the face. Almost before he could blink there was a pain in his ribs and he was on the floor, coughing and gasping for air. Above him, Sasuke was wiping his split lip on the back of his hand. Gritting his teeth, Naruto pushed himself up off the ground and to his feet. "And you got it wrong, anyway," he continued. "I've never met that guy in my life. I was sent in here by an old perverted policeman who bribed me with ramen, and hell, I know he got _his_ orders from someone else, but I've never seen or heard of this Danzo guy in my life." Naruto grinned harshly. "So, see, I thought you were a grunt and you thought I was a government lackey, but it turns out we're both wrong."

Sasuke just stared at him. Naruto took a step forward, and found a gun in his face. "Get out," Sasuke said flatly.

Naruto just scowled at the gun. "You're always doing that," he complained.

"Get _out."_

"Nuh-uh. I've decided I'm not going to believe you anymore when you tell me stupid stuff like that, because you're probably lying. So just… put the gun down, and come with me."

"Are you crazy?" Sasuke snapped. "Why?!"

"Because… because you wanted to get in the car," Naruto said thoughtfully. "And that's good enough for me. And because you need someone around, to call you on your bullshit. Someone who gets you."

"You don't get me," Sasuke said with a smirk. It was probably supposed to sound cruel, like everything else.

Naruto just nodded. "Yeah, I do. My parents were murdered too. I was a baby, but it doesn't matter. I grew up alone. I _get _it. It helps to talk sometimes, you know. Maybe if you tried it, you wouldn't be so unemotional all the time."

"You want me to be _emotional?" _Sasuke almost sneered. "The man who killed my parents is _dead_, and I'm fulfilled. That's all I care about."

"No it's _not,"_ Naruto nearly yelled in frustration. "Your parents_ died,_ Sasuke, and when was the last time you cried about it, or acted like you gave a shit –"

"If you're implying that I didn't care," Sasuke began, a dangerous note to his voice, but Naruto cut him off.

"Of _course _you _cared! _ But when was the last time you confronted it rather than running away – it wasn't just your need to kill Danzo that stopped you from leaving with me, it was that revenge is all you think you've got_ left. _You need to stop acting like the world doesn't affect you – if your parents loved you, they'd do anything to keep you happy and healthy – until you acknowledge that, you can never move on -"

"Being_ emotional _has nothing to do with any of this – it happened ages ago, and I am_ fine, _I've done what I needed to do now so why should I –"

"BECAUSE IT _HURTS!"_ Naruto yelled. His eyes felt hot and his vision was blurring. He didn't care. He flung his free arm around Sasuke, the other holding the gun away from them both, and sent them both crashing into the nearest wall. "Because they're _gone _and it hurts so bad and – "

"Get the_ hell off of me –"_

"- And you want them so much you're just _angry,_ because it's the only way you can get through the day without missing them –"

Sasuke reacted violently this time, lashing out with vicious precision, but at the same time with all the blind panic of a trapped child. Naruto jerked away, twisting Sasuke's wrist. The gun went spinning away on the floor, but neither of them watched as Naruto just latched on again, tighter this time.

"You have _ no idea_ what you're talking about, Uzumaki," he hissed in Naruto's ear. His voice sounded higher-pitched than usual, as if he was struggling to keep the lid down on his emotions, and it wasn't anger that was near the top.

Naruto clung. There was wetness from his eyes seeping into Sasuke's shirt. He didn't care. "It hurts," he repeated in a whisper. "And all you can do is hurt back, because otherwise you'll just _sink _and never reach the surface again. And… we can still walk away from this, Sasuke, but I need you to _want_ to, and that means you need to face this."

Sasuke said nothing for a moment, and then in one sharp movement shoved Naruto away from himself. He stared at the boy standing across from him – the stupid, loudmouthed, impetuous boy who presumed to know shit he had no right to, and had the bluest eyes Sasuke had ever seen. In the background, he could hear shouting, and footsteps – the cops had traced them, it could only be a matter of minutes before they were found. All he could think to say was, "Why are you crying?"

"Because you're not," Naruto grumbled, scrubbing one eye with the back of his hand. "And now they're going to come arrest us, and this _sucks."_ He turned back to look out of the window, eyes glistening in the light of the flashlights and floodlights that were now dancing through the windows of the warehouse. When he turned to face Sasuke again, he had sobered, and his gaze was steady. "If we could do it," he said quietly, "if we could get out of all of this together – would you do it?"

"….I'm not committing suicide with you, moron."

"I DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT! Just… if we could get out of all of this, scot-free, would you do it? Would you… you know. Stick around?" _ 'With me?' _was left unspoken.

Sasuke was watching him suspiciously, black eyes narrowed. "What have you done?"

"Nothing," Naruto said defensively. "Just, if we could…."

A cry of _'They're in here!' _was audible from inside. Then there was no more time for conversation as the men in blue swept in, shouts filling the tiny room and the light from flashlights breaking the darkness that had covered them. Blinking against the sudden brightness, the scene looked surreal to Naruto. The light beams were misty in the floating dust, the policemen's silhouettes blurring as they took up positions around the room. And the shouting – overlapping each other, everyone seemed to be shouting. _'Get your hands in the –' '-a perimeter, no one gets ou-' '-found them, the smallest warehouse in the northern –' '-taken in for immediate arrest –' '-HANDS IN THE AIR!'_

"Everyone_ stand down, _right now!" It was a familiar voice this time, sharp with an authority that didn't seem to match its natural lazy tone. Kakashi entered the building slowly, one hand hovering lightly over the firearm at his side. Sharp eyes surveyed the scene in an instant, before he jerked his head sharply towards the exit. "All of you out. Naruto and Sasuke, stay where you are."

_"Sir –"_

"That's an order."

Slowly, the surrounding policemen lowered their guns, and began moving towards the door with great looks of confusion and incredulity. Others seemed angrier; one swore viciously at Kakashi as he passed, while another stopped right in front of him, expression livid.

"Letting the suspects go, Hatake?" He spoke through a clenched jaw, as if the words were hurting him. "I always knew you were odd, but I never thought you'd be as corrupt as the rest of –"

_"Out, _Officer," Kakashi said cheerfully. "I know how to do my job, and I'm trusting you to know how to do yours." The man glared for another second before turning sharply and stomping out the door. "So," Kakashi continued causally, turning back to the two boys. "I trust by this time you two have gotten acquainted?"

"Eh, yeah," Naruto said with some confusion, one hand raised to scratch at the back of his head. "Sasuke, this is the old perfect who sent me in here. Kakashi, this is Sasuke, he's the one I was telling –" But Naruto's voice died in his throat as soon as he turned to see Sasuke's face. The other boy had a peculiar expression – some strange mix of disbelieving, suspicious, and completely and utterly gobsmacked.

"That's okay Naruto," Kakashi said quietly. "I know who this is."

"….Huh?"

"You've grown up well, Sasuke," the policeman continued. "Looking a bit rough around the edges, and I can't say I'd ever hoped to see you shoot someone, but you've obviously done quite well for yourself otherwise." His voice was dripping with – sarcasm, or condescension, or pity – Naruto wasn't sure which.

"Wait," Naruto interrupted, feeling seriously left out. "You_ know him?"_

"I used to," Kakashi answered pleasantly. Sasuke remained frozen. "Not so sure I do anymore."

Finding no more information there, Naruto rounded on Sasuke. "You_ know_ each other?"

"….We did. Briefly. It was a long time ago," Sasuke answered finally. "I'm guessing he didn't expect to find me here."

Kakashi said nothing, eyes flicking contemplatively between the two.

"So… that's good, right?" Naruto asked excitedly. "You know him anyway, so you'll have no problem getting him off charges, right?"

"Doesn't work like that, Naruto," Sasuke said quietly. There was a finality in his voice that Naruto didn't like.

"Whaddaya _mean –"_

"I think," Kakashi interrupted finally, "it would be best if we all left for the station. Everything can be sorted out after. Naruto, you're with me. Sasuke, I'll be handing you over to the officers outside. Forgive them if they're a little rough; their unit has been after Oto for a good number of years with less than optimal success. Anything the two of you would like to say before we depart?"

"Well, I'll see you there, I guess," Naruto told Sasuke uncertainly. He felt as though there was something big going on here, and he was missing it entirely. "And you never answered my question, you bastard."

Sasuke was silent as Kakashi walked forward to take his arms and cuff them behind his back. He only shook himself out of his silence as Kakashi began to steer him away, one hand on his arm. He stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder, brow furrowed, eyes staring into Naruto's with the most peculiar expression. Like he didn't expect to see him again. "Maybe in another life, Naruto." It was probably supposed to sound cynical. It didn't come out that way.

* * *

Naruto felt odd in the police station, after months surrounded by nothing but illegal activities and less than savory criminals. Then again, being here – on the wrong side of the law – was nothing new. In fact, it felt a bit like a second home, and not in a good way. There had been a few years where not a month had passed that he wasn't dragged in here – usually kicking and cursing – by Kakashi or some other cop, usually for some stupid misdemeanor, occasionally for something worse. Occasionally for something that he hadn't done but they blamed on him because he was moneyless and somewhat hated and had a very bad reputation.

He still felt the very real glare of some of the officers who'd known him then.

He followed Kakashi on the familiar trek through the busy levels of the building until reaching his office on the top floor. As always, papers were scattered over Kakashi's desk in a haphazard manner, mixed with dirty magazines and several picture frames. There were Playboy calendars hanging unashamedly on the walls next to maps and Wanted photographs. There was a bowl of pet food under one chair, and the whole room smelled faintly of dog.

Naruto plopped himself down in Kakashi's cushioned desk chair and proceeded to sink down into it with a contented sigh. A sharp finger poked him in the side. "Up," Kakashi commanded. Naruto obeyed with a long-suffering sigh, sitting heavily on the edge of the desk as Kakashi took his recently vacated spot.

"First things first," Kakashi murmured to himself, extracting a sheaf of papers from one dangerously teetering stack and handing them to Naruto. "Everything of yours is in there; official record as an undercover agent, information about how to receive your payment, etcetera. On the last page is your official criminal record with this and every other police department."

Naruto, who had been flipping the pages idly as Kakashi spoke, froze on the last page. "It's… not there."

"Oh, it is," Kakashi assured him.

"But… the last page is blank," Naruto insisted, turning the sheaf of papers around so Kakashi could see.

"Well, that's interesting." Kakashi sounded suspiciously blasé. "It would appear your criminal record doesn't exist."

Naruto stared at him, mouth gaping slightly. He had, over the course of the last few months, completely and utterly forgotten about Kakashi's promise. "You mean –"

"With such a clear record, you shouldn't have any problem getting into the academy. You've been studying for the test, haven't you?"

Naruto's lips were trembling for some reason. With maximum effort, he managed to press them tightly together and give Kakashi a nod of thanks. Words, for the first time in his life, seemed to be failing him.

"Now," Kakashi continued, sounding altogether too pleased with himself, "About your… friend."

At this, Naruto's head shot up again. "Sasuke! Where is he? And how do you know him, anyway?"

Kakashi shrugged. "We've met. But you never told me his name over the phone – you can hardly expect me to have connected the two of them with so little information."

"But… how did you meet, did he get arrested? He told me he's never been arrested. What did he do?"

"I'm sure he'll tell you all about it when you see him," Kakashi said pleasantly. "Speaking of which. I believe the boys have put him in one of the holding cells down below. I am going to break several dozen rules and allow you unrestricted access, for which you'll need these." He tossed Naruto a set of keys. " – and this." This time it was another rolled up sheaf of papers. Naruto caught it with obvious confusion; Kakashi just smiled inscrutably. "Read them, Naruto," he said helpfully. "I'm sure you can figure out what they're for."

* * *

The room was bare of any furniture, except for a cold metal table and a plastic chair. All four walls were painted the same steely, prison-bar grey, as if the holdees here might need the extra incentive to talk.

Because that's surely what this was – an interrogation room. Unlike the bigger, brightly lit rooms upstairs, the were no one-way mirrors here, and, Naruto noted with an odd flutter of his stomach, no cameras.

Microphones, maybe. But at the moment, he didn't give a crap as to who was listening anyway.

His footsteps were muffled as he walked slowly towards the solitary figure in the room. Sasuke was sitting hunched, hand cuffed to the back of his chair, eyes still wrapped in what looked like duct tape.

He didn't look the least bit nervous about his situation. That in itself was unsurprising, but Naruto didn't like the blank look of complete emotional detachment.

He stopped on the opposite side of the metal table. It felt wrong, like he was on one side of the law, and Sasuke was on the other, so Naruto wasted several seconds dragging the offending object away at to the nearest wall.

Then he punched Sasuke in the face. The other boy's head snapped to the side, already busted lip opening again to smear the tiniest bit of blood on Naruto's knuckles.

Very slowly, Sasuke brought his head back around, pink tongue darting out to prod lazily at the cut. "Go get Kakashi," he said tonelessly, "and I'll tell him whatever you like. I have better things to do than talk to someone's flunky. You're wasting your time here."

Naruto stared at him in confusion for a moment before he remembered his own thoughts about this room's use, and realized Sasuke might have been gotten the wrong idea.

"It's me," he said quietly, unable to stop the slow grin that was spreading across his face. Anger aside, he felt good. After months and months, they were finally at the end.

"Go away," Sasuke said flatly.

….That wasn't exactly the end he'd envisioned, though. "What, did I interrupt a bonding session with your handcuffs?" Naruto demanded, feeling a little frustrated. "I'm not actually angry, you know. Or I am, but it's okay. I just punched you because you deserved it. But we're good now."

It was amazing how well Sasuke could glare without even having his eyes visible. "You," he said quietly, "are going to walk out that door and leave. You're going to go back to whatever the hell you did before you forced yourself into my life, and you're going to forget all about me."

"And what the hell are _you_ planning to do? Sit there for the rest of your life? That'll be real fun – I'll have to bring you food every day, and it'll be ramen because I can't cook anything else, and you hate ramen and you'll complain and I _know _my flat's tiny but this room can't even fit a_ bed, _let alone everything else –"

"Idiot," Sasuke snapped, sounding frustrated for the first time. "Maybe you haven't noticed, but I'll probably be_ dead_ soon."

"….Do you have cancer and you never told me?"

"I _shot a government official, _you moron. They are not going to let me walk out of here, probably not even to go to prison. If Danzo's men don't come to finish me off, then they'll say I resisted arrest. It doesn't matter. But I don't…" He trailed off, uncertain for the first time.

Naruto said nothing. Dimly, in the corner of his brain, he saw where Sasuke was heading with this, what he was thinking, but he couldn't force himself to voice it.

"I don't want you here," Sasuke finally finished, reluctance clear in his voice. "When they come."

Naruto stayed silent. Realization had finally dawned, but it wasn't a happy thing.

"Forget about me," Sasuke repeated. He seemed particularly stressed about that one point, for some reason. As if Naruto could go back to his little apartment and pretend all of this had never happened, or something, and it would all be okay.

"You don't care?" Naruto ground out finally, voice hard. There was something breaking here. He could almost see the cracks in the fragile glass that held them together, and it could shatter completely, or it could reform into something new. "Because if you tell me that you _want _to die, then I'm going to punch you again, because that's bullshit."

"It was always going to be like this, don't you_ get _it?" Sasuke was speaking with his jaw clenched, as if the words were forcing themselves out. "My entire life has been circled around this, and it never mattered what I had to do to accomplish my goal because _there was nothing after._ I _have _no future, and you act like you – you stupid –"

Under normal circumstances, Naruto would have enjoyed Sasuke's rare moment of incoherency, but this was not the time. "That was a long time ago. This is now. Are you telling me that there's nothing –_ nothing _– left that you care about?" The unspoken part of the question hung blatant in the air between them, but Naruto couldn't make himself voice it. He could guide Sasuke to where he needed to be, but he couldn't put the words in his mouth.

Sasuke turned his head away. "I'm saying it doesn't matter anymore," he said quietly.

"That wasn't my question, bastard. Letting what you can't do get in the way of what you want to do is stupid, remember?"

"What, you want to go on the run? Together?" Sasuke's tone was derisive. "I'm fully ready to face the consequences of my actions, Naruto. You're protected, and I'll kill you if you try to throw that away by getting yourself mixed up in something st-wwwwww-"

Kissing, Naruto thought dimly, was a good way to get Sasuke to shut up. He was fairly sure the technique had been used on himself a few times, anyway, and so fair was fair.

It was warm and sweet, and Sasuke's lips were soft as he took care to avoid the bloody split on one side. The kiss was almost nostalgic, he realized, and everything that their kisses usually weren't. It was Sasuke saying goodbye, in the way that he couldn't force his actual words to do. Like he actually thought this was the end.

Naruto pulled back slowly, and studied Sasuke with a thoughtful expression. "It's not that you suddenly don't care anymore," he murmured happily, an odd warmth spreading through him. "You're trying to save me from being hurt."

"You're delusional," Sasuke groused, but his voice was subdued.

A small giggle escaped before Naruto could contain it, and he pressed his nose into Sasuke's cheek, grin spreading across his face. "You _are,"_ he crowed softly. "You were trying to be _nice." _Then he broke off into a fresh peel of delighted laughter, smiling fit to crack his face in two.

"I can make you hate me," Sasuke snarled into Naruto's hair. "I can make you hate me and forget me and never think about me again –"

"No you can't," Naruto snorted gently. "And you don't want to anyway." He buried his face in Sasuke's neck, moisture soaking through the other boy's collar.

"Are you _crying again?" _ Sasuke snapped, sounding uncomfortable and bewildered all at once.

"I'm just _happy,"_ Naruto mumbled, rocking them slowly back and forth. His eyes continued to water, and he rubbed them unashamedly against Sasuke's shoulder again.

"You – stupid, over emotional – I was trying to make it easier for _you, _you always make such a big deal out of saying goodb-mmmmmm-"

Naruto muffled his protests with his lips for the second time, before pulling back to grin happily at Sasuke's covered eyes. "Except we don't have to say goodbye, you jerk. You think Kakashi would let that happen? You think I'd be here crying my _very manly tears _into your stupid shoulder if you were really in trouble?" He fumbled in his back pocked for a moment before finding what he needed, bring the key out and walking around the back of Sasuke's chair to unlock the handcuffs. They dropped to the floor, and he left them where they lay, reaching back to grab the papers curled up in his other pocket and forcing them into Sasuke's hand.

"What is this?" Sasuke took the papers with one hand, tugging on his blindfold with the other, starting to show uncertainty and frustration for the first time.

"Here, lemme help –"

"It's _duct tape_, it's not just going to –"

"Just lemme _pull –"_

"OW, godammit, just_ leave_ it until you can find scissors – what the hell is this you handed me?"

"A printout of your official papers," Naruto said happily, "that specifically say one Hatake Kakashi sent you undercover to Oto with _'intent to become integrated and observe the movements of certain wanted persons_' blablabla. It means you're an agent, and your entire time in Oto was spent there under orders from Investigative Undercover thingy – rendering the police responsible for your actions and yourself incapable of blame for whatever whatever."

Sasuke was very, very still.

"….Did you understand that, or do you need me to repeat it again?"

"This wasn't… that's a _lie. _ I_ left._ I never expected it to…."

"Yeah, well, I've been told I have a talent for the unpredictable."

"….He knew," Sasuke finally murmured. His fingertips were ghosting almost unconsciously over the roll of papers. "Kakashi. I'd thought… he never knew where I went, I'd never even heard about him looking…."

"Wait." Naruto held up a hand that Sasuke couldn't see, brain suddenly working overtime to try to comprehend the enormity of this. "Wait. Kakashi knew you from _before_ Oto?"

"He was… my guardian, for about a year," Sasuke bit out distractedly. "After…. Until I was thirteen, when I left to join Oto. He must have never reported that I left until I came of age and he could make these papers up… how the hell did he keep it quiet…."

Naruto let out a cry of absolute outrage. "YOU MEAN HE KNEW YOU – AND HE KNEW ME AND SENT ME IN WITHOUT TELLING ME HE KNEW YOU SO WHEN WE MET WE DIDN'T KNOW WE BOTH KNEW –"

"Naruto," Sasuke started, but Naruto plowed right over him in his fit of righteous anger.

"-AND NEVER LET ME KNOW EVEN THOUGH HE KNEW WE KNEW EACH OTHER –"

_"Naruto."_

"HE KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN! HE WASN'T EVEN SURPRISED YOU SHOT DANZO - THAT MANIPULATIVE BASTARD HAS BEEN PULLING THE STRINGS ON THIS ENTIRE OPERATION THIS ENTIRE-mmmph."

Sasuke's mouth felt weird, Naruto thought dimly, as if he was – smiling, or something. That was a stupid thought. The bastard never smiled. But then, he was almost never this gentle either, pale hands sweeping up past Naruto's neck to thread fingers through his hair and cup the back of his head. Naruto's own arms wrapped around Sasuke's back, yanking him close in a bone-crushing hug, just in case he needed the reminding that neither of them were going anywhere, unless it was with the other.

When they broke apart, Naruto pressed up on his toes slightly to trace the tip of his nose along the underside of the blindfold, just under Sasuke's left eye. "You can come home with me now," he mumbled into the cheek pressed against his lips. "I'll help you bring all your crap over. Need to get a new place… bigger… can buy a cat, maybe."

"We're not getting _married, _idiot." Sasuke's body was shaking oddly. As if he was suppressing anger. Or jitters. Or laughter. ….Probably anger.

But there was no anger in the kiss that attached itself to Naruto's lips then, before one big tug sent the both of them stumbling back into the hard edge of the metal table. Naruto would have complained, if that hadn't when Sasuke let go of Naruto to hoist himself back up onto the cold surface.

"Um," Naruto mumbled, brain short circuiting as he felt arms come up around his shoulders and legs move open to nudge against the outside of his hips. "Your – blindfold –"

"It's stuck to my hair," Sasuke mumbled, lips tracing Naruto's jaw. "Leave it."

….God, but that was really hot. Who knew Sasuke had a secret kink?

"But –"

"Shut up."

"The cops are gonna come down here eventually," Naruto tried one last time, having difficulty thinking as a hand slid up his shirt.

"I really do not care." With those words, Sasuke gave Naruto a tug, muscling him up onto the table before climbing up over him.

Naruto growled, planting one sneaker against the edge of the table and flipping them, so he was straddling Sasuke's hips. "Fine," he growled, lowering his head for a bruising kiss. "But then we're going home. And we're staying, okay? You're staying with me. And you're not gonna lie anymore – no more lies, I hate it – and you're not gonna leave again. Okay?"

Sasuke's expression should have been harder to read than ever with the blindfold on. It wasn't. "….Okay."

Naruto kissed him again. It felt like soaring.


End file.
